Sunday, March 25, 2007

second big ride of the year

All I can say after this ride is ouch ! Twelve people set out at 9:35 a.m. to do a loop that went down the Salinas valley and up the Carmel valley, finishing with the dreaded Las Laurales grade. Winds were stagnant for the first hour or so but turned favorable so the speed crept up as we went south. The first stop was at Miller's lodge in Arroyo Seco. We decended a hill down to the store only to find it closed. We sat for about 20 minutes before someone drove up and told us that there was a store just up the road. After stopping we rode up the long Carmel valley road and up the big climb. The view was spectacular but most folks were just trying to stay out of the wind that had greatly picked up. Upon leaving the summit we plunged down to towards Carmel Vally village, an old hippie town at one time-now a prime real estate speculative marketplace.The pace got really heated here as the route is flat to slight downhill most of the way.While sitting at the village market we saw a literal fleet of Ferraris drive by,fast and stylish but really smelly with burning-oil exhaust. After the Ferraris went by it was up and over the grade....not a real comfortable ride after nearly 80 miles on the bike. Back at the cars ( after a mad paceline dash down hwy. 68) the carnage was hard not to notice. Check the photos.